Finding Home
by HopingItMeantMore
Summary: One-shot in which Emma realizes her feelings for Killian. A gift for my Captain Swan Secret Santa.


Finding Home

She didn't notice in Neverland, or when they first arrived back in Storybrooke. But now the town had finally settled and she returned to her daily routine, she missed him. She missed the smirks and the closeness, hell, even the sexual innuendos. But what she yearned for, more than anything, was his presence. The way she could always look to him when she needed reassurance or comfort. But she couldn't complain he was doing exactly what she has asked of him. He was giving her space.

After the first day from their return, Neal had asked her if she had made her choice yet. But she wasn't ready for her hearts choice so she asked them both to stay away. Neal of course didn't listen very well and they ended up fighting over their past. He stubbornly refused to believe that he had made the wrong choice in leaving her. The quarrel had been finished when Emma walked out of his room at Granny's and told him that she would never choose him again.

She thought that the news would have reached the pirate by now, but it hadn't. Or if he had heard, he didn't care. She was angry with herself for letting herself fall for another man again, only to have her heart broken and bruised.

Not again, never again. Emma vowed to herself just the other day.

But where was she now? She, Emma- I take no one's shit- Swan was standing in front of his ship, ready to talk, ready to make her choice. She needed him, but not in the way she had ever thought she would. Her desire for him had surpassed anything and everything she had ever felt before. She sensed it in the way her eyes would search for him whenever she was feeling unsure of herself. In the way that her heart would flutter when someone would ask where the one handed pirate was these days. But mostly in the way that she felt unsafe and broken without him near. She was finally fed up with her craving for him, so she decided that it would be tonight, tonight she would tell him.

But, now that she was waiting for him to answer the door, her stomach clenched. He's taking too long to open up, maybe he isn't here, maybe I should just- Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of wood scarping against wood. She looked up and there he was, in his leather clad glory, his eyes shining when he noticed who was on his ship at 1 in the morning.

"Well, to what do I owe the pleasure, sweetheart?" Hook drawled as she pushed her way past him and into his quarters. He watched her as she looked around, conveniently avoiding his gaze. "Emma, what's wrong, love?" She finally looked up at him and he was taken aback by how broken she looked. Her green eyes were filled with fear, but somewhere under her terror he saw something, an emotion he had never seen in her eyes before.

"N-nothing's wrong, I just- I needed to talk to you." The blonde woman mumbled as she sat on the edge of his bed, ignoring the fire that built in her stomach as he joined her. She had put him on edge and she could see it in the way his jaw clenched as he settled next to her.

"What is it?" He was genuinely terrified of what this woman was about to say to him. She could easily tell him to leave this town and live happily with Baelfire. He winced at the thought of her and the crocodile's son being together.

"I-I…" Emma stuttered and looked down at her hands in her lap. He took one of her hands in his to reassure her that was alright, that she could tell him anything, no matter how difficult it may be for him to hear. "Killian." She whispered and heard his sharp intake of breath. She had never called him by his real name before but now seemed like the best time. Her calling him Killian couldn't even compare in what she was about to tell him. She gazed up at his cerulean eyes and took a deep breath. "I love you."

To say he was shocked would be an understatement. Killian couldn't believe what the blonde had just said. She couldn't love him. He loved her, but she couldn't love him. No one did, so why should Emma? He breathed deeply and closed his eyes, calming his mind, and when he opened them again he could see the love in Emma's eyes. She cupped his cheek with her free hand and repeated herself, with much more confidence. "I love you, Killian Jones."

He still wasn't saying anything so she did the only thing that she could do. She kissed him with all of the love that she could muster. It didn't take him long to react to that, and soon he was pressing his lips into hers, coaxing her lips open so he could deepen the kiss.

They kissed until they were breathless and then she rested her forehead against his, breathing deeply and trying her hardest to compose herself. "I love you." She whispered again, wanting him to know, needing him to know, exactly how she felt.

"I love you, lass." He breathed against her lips, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. She sighed in relief, knowing that she finally had someone who wouldn't leave, someone for life, whether she liked it or not. She had finally found the one thing that she had been craving, and she had found it with Captain Hook of all people.

Emma had found home.


End file.
